ceramics

Chinese New Year 2012: Year of the Dragon

Published by Anni Turnbull 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

97/92/15-11 Dragon or lion, ceramic, part of personal effects, Wong family, Australia, 1880-1930 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Sydney holds the largest Lunar New Year festival outside Asia, where communities from Asia celebrate the first day of the first lunar month of the year. Lunar or Chinese New Year falls on 23 January this year, with celebration lasting 15 days, until the first full moon appears.

It’s a time for renewal, family gatherings, eating rich foods and paying respect to your ancestors and elders. Sydneysiders have become familiar with the festival of the new year celebrated with dragon boats races, lions dances and night markets, creating a festival atmosphere, particularly in Chinatown and Ultimo communities.

Chinese new year celebrations, Chinatown in haymarket, Sydney, Image: Sotha Bourn, Powerhouse Museum

The Year of 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, the fifth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 Animal signs. More specifically it is the year of the water dragon a creature of myth and legend and in ancient China, the celestial Dragon represented an emperor and power. Today, it is the ultimate symbol for success and happiness.

A4034-4 Snuff bottle, famille-rose enamelled porcelain, maker unknown, China, Qianlong reign (1736-1795) of Qing dynasty. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

The origin of the Chinese dragon is not certain. The presence of dragon in Chinese culture can dates back several thousands of years with the discovery of a dragon statue dating back to the fifth millennium BC from the Yangshao culture in Henan in 1987, and jade badges of rank in coiled form have been excavated from the Hongshan culture circa 4700-2900 BC.
The dragon and other symbols of good luck are represented within the Museum’s collection.

2010/75/1-6 Glass lantern slide, Jiulong Bi (Nine-Dragon-Screen) in Beihai Park, hand coloured glass / metal, made by Serge Vargassoff, Peking, China, 1920-1949. Collecton : Powerhouse Museum

Like this lantern slide taken by the Russian-born photographer Serge Vargassoff (1906-1965) who established himself as a professional photographer at the age of 20, in Peking (Beijing), China and became a long-term resident of the city. The slide shows a panel depicting a pair of dragons playing in the clouds. They are the two of the nine dragons on the Jiulong Bi (Nine-Dragon-Screen) in Beihai Park, Peking. This large glazed stone screen was built in 1756 and is one of three screens of the same kind in China. The screen is decorated on both sides with nine dragons playing in the clouds.
The Museum will hold activities to celebrate Chinese new year.

David Boyd (1924-2011)

Published by Anni Turnbull 0 Comments Tags: , , .

92/1446 Earthenware bowl by David and Hermia Boyd, Melbourne , 1955. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

David Boyd died aged 87 on November 10 2011.

Born into the Boyd family, who have been renowned for their artistic talents, David Boyd was a painter but was known for his ceramics, learning originally from his father Merric Boyd.
Working with his wife Hermia (1931-2000), during the 1950s they had a prolific period producing ceramics, running studios, exhibiting widely and travelling and working in Italy England, Spain and France. In 1956, Boyd and his wife became widely known as leading Australian potters. They introduced new glazing techniques and potter’s wheel use in shaping sculptural figures. The Museum is fortunate to have a small collection of David and Hermia’s earthen and stoneware work.

92/1573 Vase, earthenware, David and Hermia Boyd, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, c. 1956 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

From 1967 no more pots were made, David continued painting and Hermia with sculpture.

Reference
The Crafts Movement in Australia: A History by Grace Cochrane
University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 1992

Joyce Gittoes Ceramic Art

Published by Anni Turnbull 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I recently had the privilege to undertake a 20 day internship at the Powerhouse Museum under the supervision of curator, Paul Donnelly. I was given the task of documenting an acquisition consisting of a series of ceramic pieces by Joyce Gittoes (b.1915). Researching the life of Joyce has been an immense honour as she has had an amazing journey, dedicating her life to her family and her art. The ceramic art by Joyce is unique, firstly in its dedication to the ceramic medium, and then in its focused subject matter. The evolution of her own artistic style is evident in the Museum’s collection which has work from her early career and her later works which are dedicated to the native fauna, the landscape and the cultural history of Australia. This recent acquisition complements the Museum’s earlier acquisition of Yellow House artworks.
Joyce studied ceramics during the Arts and Crafts movement in Australia in the 1950s under Mollie Douglas. All of Joyce’s work has been produced with great technique and skill. Her individual style is bold and expressive breaking away from the Japanese aesthetic style that was popular with her contemporaries. Joyce’s sculptures in the Museum’s collection from her early career were designed to be exhibited in the Yellow House. ‘Peg Leg Pete’ (1970-72) is a work that was inspired by the Surrealist artist Rene Magritte. The half-fish half-man sculpture was often placed in the fish pond at the Yellow House.

Peg-Leg Pete, ceramic sculpture of a fish-man, stylised modelled earthenware, Joyce Gittoes, Bardwell Park, Sydney, NSW, 1970-72 Collection Powerhouse Museum

The Yellow House was an artist collective established in the early 1970s in Sydney. It was organised by artists Martin Sharp, Brett Whitely, Greg Waite and Joyce’s son, George Gittoes. This period of contemporary art during the early 1970s is heralded as the hippy era in Australia’s art scene. The Yellow House in Macleay St, Potts Point in Sydney, was named after Van Gough’s studio in the south of France which he used as an escape from the stress of life in Paris. Van Gough wrote in a letter to his brother that he wanted to one day turn the studio into an artist’s boarding house, with live performance ‘happenings’, exhibition space and installations. George Gittoes was the creator of the Yellow House Puppet theatre. A re-creation of this room with the original puppets along with selected ceramics by Joyce Gittoes was acquired by the Museum prior to the ceramic acquisition which I have been working on for my internship. This work is almost in direct contrast to her later work which took on an Australiana theme, focusing on native animals and the landscape. These animal sculptures were exhibited during the 1980s in galleries around NSW and the Northern Territory and were made through the love that Joyce had for the native animals and native culture of Australia. They are unique in the detail that Joyce gave each one.

Owl, stylised modelled earthenware sculpture, Joyce Gittoes, Bardwell Park, Sydney, NSW, 1975-1990 Collecton: Powerhouse Museum

The owls, which are a personal favourite of many collectors, have individual characteristics; the barn owl, Boobook owls and the Barking owl have been made life-sized and with a great amount of detail given to the individual species. Joyce was often told by her patrons that, “each one (of her animals) appears to have a soul”. Quote, Joyce Gittoes, Artist Statement, 1986.
Post by Sarah Heenan, Curatorial intern with Dr Paul Donnelly, Curator, design & society.

Thancoupie (Thanakupi) the Potter (1937-2011)

Published by Paul Donnelly 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Pots, stoneware, hand built, carved, oxide decoration, gas fired, reduced, with an ash glaze, Thancoupie, Trinity Bay, Queensland, Australia, 1984. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Dr. Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher AO, has sadly died after a long illness, aged 74, at Weipa Base Hospital on Cape York. Thancoupie (Thanakupi), as she was best known, was born in the small mission town of Napranum, near Weipa where she experienced a traditional childhood of hunting and travelling with her family in time with the seasons. As part of her upbringing, her female elders taught her traditional stories and symbols that they drew in the sand. It was these symbols and stories that Thancoupie would later modify for her work in textiles and clay.

A 10978 Ceramic form, Love magic pot, 'Prethem, (Long neck turtle)', handbuilt stoneware, carved, oxide decoration, reduction/ gas fired with ash glaze, Thancoupie (Gloria Fletcher), Trinity Bay, Queensland, Australia, 1984. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

In 1971, Thancoupie travelled to Sydney to enrol in a graphic arts course at East Sydney Technical College. Here, after overcoming initial qualms associated with the sacred nature of clay in her homeland, she began her training under the guidance of Peter Rushforth, Bernard Sahm, Shiga Shigeo, Joan Grounds and Peter Travis. She became the first Indigenous person to study ceramics at a tertiary level.

Thancoupie held her first solo exhibition in the backyard of her friend, Jennifer Isaacs, and through this received an invitation in 1983 to attend an international ceramics conference in Mexico. In 2001, eighty works spanning her entire career were presented in a survey exhibition at the Brisbane City Gallery and she is represented in the collections of the Powerhouse Museum, the National Gallery of Australia as well as State art galleries and museums in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.

In addition to continuing her art practice, Thancoupie spent much of the last 30 years mentoring aspiring artists from communities in Far North Queensland, Arnhemland, the Desert and the Tiwi Islands as well as holding art and professional development courses for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Thancoupie helped to found the Weipa Festival on Cape York and ran holiday programs to teach bush knowledge and art to younger generations. As a community elder Thancoupie educated Indigenous children in their traditional culture and ran art education programs during school holidays.

As recently noted by Adrian Newstead, Thancoupie’s creative and philosophical motivation is best expressed in her own words.

You are here in a lifetime to help, to understand… that is intelligence. And only intelligent people have strong friendships. I wish we all have that.

(ABC Message Stick: 2004).

References: Adrian Newstead, ‘Passing of Thancoupie’

Hair in Museums

Published by Anni Turnbull 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

85/649 Shirt, man's, cotton / human hair, Cameroon, between about 1900 and 1925 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Why does hair appear in the most unlikely places?
Like this man’s shirt from the Cameroons.

Detail 85/649 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Or worked into this unique needle lace panel from the 1600s.

A5335 Lace panel, "Judith and Holofernes", needle lace, linen / silk / human hair, maker unknown, England, mid 1600s Collection: Powerhouse Museum

That hair has been readily available as a material is one answer.
Hair has also been an indicator of social status and religious function, a symbol of age and authority, a statement of style and an object of beauty and adornment.

In this lace panel it is used to add an element of realism to the figures.
The panel depicts the slaughter of Holofernes by Judith. Judith is the central figure as befits her heroic status. She is brandishing a sword in her right hand and holds Holofernes head by the hair in her left hand. Her maid holds a bag ready to receive the head. Behind Judith’s sword there appears to be a serpent. To her right Holofernes lies with silk ‘blood’ (once probably red, now pink) pouring from his severed neck. The hair on all their heads, and in Holofernes’ beard, is stitched with strands of human hair, a very rare occurence in lace making.

Growing it or depleting it, what we do with our hair has been a part of human grooming in many cultures and an important focus in rituals like weddings and funerals since ancient times.

Mourning or memorial jewellery has been worn since the middle ages and became popular in the 15th and 16th century in England. Until the 18th century it generally consisted of gold and black enamel with early examples in black and white often in the form of a skull.

During and after the Regency period 1795-1830 in England, chains ,rings, pendants and brooches were made from finely plaited hair from the head.

2004/141/1 Mourning locket, gold / hairwork / seed pearls, made by John Wilkinson Jeweller & Silversmith, Leeds, England, 1826 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Another gem in our collection that refers to hair is this piece by Alan Peascod. We can all identify with a bad hair day as presented by Alan Peascod (1943-2007), an Australian ceramicist usually known for his Islamic inspired creations. This porcelain piece is inspired by his childhood memories reflecting a day where nothing will go right.

97/282/1 'Bad hair day', porcelain, Alan Peascod, Bulli, NSW, 1997 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Some have taken an interest with hair to the edge of obsession, or perhaps have teetered over the edge. Make up your own mind. There are two Museums I have seen dedicated to hair, one in America and one in Turkey. I have to admit I find both slightly unsettling.

Bernard Sahm (1926-2011)

Published by Paul Donnelly 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

Sculpture, `Art Machine No. III', stoneware, Sydney, Bernard Sahm, Australia, 1976 Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Bernard Sahm was a greatly respected potter whose work is represented in all the major galleries of Australia. He trained and practiced as an industrial draughtsman which gave him skills he was to use in his distinctive ceramic output that frequently included drawn and applied detail. Sahm’s intellectual and frequently original approach to his art took up the counter-cultural spirit of the times – especially from the 1970s – but even as early as 1963 James Gleeson in the Sydney Morning Herald noted Sahm was ‘was never dull or conventional’.

Sahm’s work was tremendously varied with only the columnar ‘pipe’ shape in many works maintaining a thread of kinship from the 1960s through to the 2000s.

'Art Machine No III' detail, Collection: Powerhouse Museum

After working briefly in the 1940s with the Forestry Commission in country NSW he began studying painting and sculpture, and eventually ceramics, at the National Art School, Sydney (1945-52). During his time there he also worked as a decorator at the Martin Boyd Pottery (1949) and, showing his flexibility, also submitted paintings in the 1948, 1949 and 1950 Sulman Prize and the 1951 Wynne, and Blake Prizes.

Sahm married Pam in 1955 and their travels in Europe saw Bernard gain more experience in commercial potteries including six months in ‘Gutenhalde Ceramics’ in Stuttgart, a year at the Crowan Pottery in Cornwall, UK and also visits to potteries in Italy and Greece. In 1959 Sahm established his own pottery at Mosman, in 1961 he began teaching at the National Art School in 1961 and in 1977 became the inaugural Head of Ceramics, Sydney College of the Arts. During his tenure there he succeeded in introducing a cross-disciplinary approach that reflected his own expansive attitude to materials and technique.

At the same time as he was teaching Sahm industriously continued producing bodies of work that were shown at numerous galleries and institutions. Over time the nature of his output increasingly blurred the distinction between ceramics and sculpture while at the same time critiquing society and specifically the art world. His ‘Art Machine No. III’ at the Powerhouse Museum criticises art as a consumable item able to be distilled to a liquid. Part of a large series first presented at the Watters Gallery, Sydney in 1976, such sentiments shocked the sensibilities of the time. After his retirement to a bushland setting in 1984, Sahm turned to nature for his inspiration – but still often large scale and never predictable.

With thanks to the catalogue entry by Gillian McCracken, ‘Wit and Wonder: The ceramic sculptures of Bernard Sahm’, Mosman Art Gallery (10 June – 16 July 2006) pp10-21